1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a moving image generation program for generating moving image information, and a moving image generation apparatus, and more particularly to a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a moving image generation program executed by an information processing apparatus which performs an editing process, based on a predetermined operation input, for editing an initial image displayed by a display device, generates still image information through the editing process, and stores the still image information as moving image information, and a moving image generation apparatus. Further, the present invention relates to a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a moving image reproduction program for reproducing moving image information, and a moving image reproduction apparatus, and more particularly to a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a moving image reproduction program executed by an information processing apparatus for reproducing, in a forward direction, moving image information which is generated by using: an initial image which is initially displayed; a shift amount representing an amount of a shift between display images of predetermined frames; and difference data representing a difference between an image obtained by shifting, by the shift amount, a display image of a preceding one of the predetermined frames, and a display image of a following one of the predetermined frames, and for displaying, by means of a display device, the moving image information having been reproduced, the initial image, the shift amount, and the difference data being stored in image storage means, and to a moving image reproduction apparatus.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, as a method for storing moving image information, used is a method in which difference data representing a difference between data of adjacent frames is coded, and the coded difference data is stored. However, there is a problem that, when images of adjacent frames are greatly different from each other, it is difficult to efficiently encode the difference data representing the difference between data of the adjacent frames. In order to solve the problem, various methods, apparatuses, and the like have been suggested.
For example, in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-336277), disclosed are an encoding method or apparatus for: detecting a motion vector of a frame in comparison with the immediately preceding frame in a sequence of frames, the motion vector representing a positional offset between the frames; allowing an image of the immediately preceding frame to shift, based on the detected motion vector; calculating difference data representing a difference between the shifted image and an image of the current frame; and encoding the difference data.
However, the conventional coding apparatus including the coding apparatus as described above, and the like, needs to detect for a motion vector based on images of adjacent frames. Therefore, processing load necessary for encoding image information is increased, and, in some cases, a time period for performing coding process is increased in an information processing apparatus which has reduced processing capacity.